Best affordable, non-soul-crushing areas for young family working in Tustin? (Long Beach: apartment, rentals)

[Designbot]

My wife and I are about 30 years old, and we have two young kids, one of whom who will be starting Kindergarten next year. We've lived in Fullerton before, and liked it all right, although we found it difficult to meet people, and we found Orange County in general to be an odd mix of wealthy, appearance-obsessed Republicans and inappropriately-aged wannabe punk rockers.

We moved out of the state, but now my work requires me to come back to our office in Tustin. Are there any decent areas where we can find a 2-bedroom apartment/townhome/rental for ~$1300 that isn't in a massive complex surrounded by bland strip malls?

Things we're looking for are:

A diverse mix of neighbors, including young families
Laid-back, non-superficial atmosphere
Decent schools
Walkability
Good cheap food
Trees & hills would be great, as well as bike paths
Proximity to the beach is a plus

Based on NaplesRes's suggestion, I'm considering the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, but a shorter commute would be nice. I also drove through Lake Forest area recently, and I liked the natural setting, although the oversized, overplanned shopping areas around Irvine kind of creep me out.

Any suggestions?

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by Designbot

My wife and I are about 30 years old, and we have two young kids, one of whom who will be starting Kindergarten next year. We've lived in Fullerton before, and liked it all right, although we found it difficult to meet people, and we found Orange County in general to be an odd mix of wealthy, appearance-obsessed Republicans and inappropriately-aged wannabe punk rockers.

We moved out of the state, but now my work requires me to come back to our office in Tustin. Are there any decent areas where we can find a 2-bedroom apartment/townhome/rental for ~$1300 that isn't in a massive complex surrounded by bland strip malls?

Things we're looking for are:

A diverse mix of neighbors, including young families
Laid-back, non-superficial atmosphere
Decent schools
Walkability
Good cheap food
Trees & hills would be great, as well as bike paths
Proximity to the beach is a plus

Based on NaplesRes's suggestion, I'm considering the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, but a shorter commute would be nice. I also drove through Lake Forest area recently, and I liked the natural setting, although the oversized, overplanned shopping areas around Irvine kind of creep me out.

Any suggestions?

I haven't spent much time there but I've heard Fullerton has a decent downtown area???

[bhcompy]

Los Alamitos fits. Prices average 1200-1500 for a 2bd. No real complexes to speak of here, mostly older apts, usually 3-6 units or so on a plot of land. Lots of kids around, parks in the apartment area(Apartment Row it's called), awesome schools, fairly walkable depending on where you situate yourself(closer to Los Alamitos Blvd, the more walkable it is, since that is where the grocery shopping is). Beach is 10min down Los Alamitos Blvd(turns into Seal Beach Blvd, take it to PCH and make a right, left on Main 2 blocks later and you're at the pier). Trees yes, hills not so much, but El Dorado Park and Nature Center are right around the corner if you want a bit of nature. Bike path goes up and down Coyote Creek/San Gabriel River(concrete flood control channel) to the beach or up as far as you want to go inland, you can also ride at El Dorado, and plenty ride the streets around here in the beach areas as well. As far as food goes, there are plenty of food options, so I wouldn't worry about it.

The only problem may be the commute to Tustin. It will be closer than Belmont Shore, but not by too much. My wife used to commute to Orange(just north of Tustin) on Katella or Ball(depending on construction) and it would take 30-40min during rush hour and 20min if she left early.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Designbot

2-bedroom apartment/townhome/rental for ~$1300 that isn't in a massive complex surrounded by bland strip malls?

Things we're looking for are:

A diverse mix of neighbors, including young families
Laid-back, non-superficial atmosphere
Decent schools
Walkability
Good cheap food
Trees & hills would be great, as well as bike paths
Proximity to the beach is a plus

That could be Santa Ana except for the decent schools part.

[Designbot]

I haven't spent much time there but I've heard Fullerton has a decent downtown area???

Fullerton is one of the nicer towns in the area, but not one of the cheaper ones… it is an option. Downtown is cute, but there's not a lot of reasons to go there.

Los Alamitos fits. Prices average 1200-1500 for a 2bd. No real complexes to speak of here, mostly older apts, usually 3-6 units or so on a plot of land.

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll check that out.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Designbot

Fullerton is one of the nicer towns in the area, but not one of the cheaper ones… it is an option. Downtown is cute, but there's not a lot of reasons to go there.



Thanks for the suggestion; I'll check that out.

one of the biggest concerns could be the schools. Remember, the loser price areas normally do not have the same quality schools as higher income levels and 1200 is barely in the middle income bracket for rentals..

I also have the view, that a child will succeed in life if mommy and daddy set a good example..

Nita

[Coldjensens]

Santa Ana fits, you just have to work a little for decent schools. For public schools, you need your kids to go to John Muir elementary or the elementary school in Floral park. For jr. High: Villa, McArthur or there is one other that is decent. For high school OCHSA or possibly Santa Ana high.
Santa Ana high has a rough element, but I was told that the "good kids" use completely different parts of the school and do nto really mix with the not so good kids. I am not sure how true that is. Go check it out and ask the students and teachers (not opinionated know nothing outsiders, you will only get exaggerations). There is also a high school at Santa Ana College I cannot remember what is called, but the students take some courses withthe college kids and they seem to do very well on graduation.

OCHSA is a charter school. It is part of the public school system, but it focusses on the arts. However the academics there are outstanding. They have an elementary school and a Jr. high as well. The jr. high is good. I know nothing about the elemntary it just opened when we left. Despite being public, you still have to pay a fee of about $3000/year. You and your kids also have to participate in fund raisers. Your kids also must have considerable talent in some form of the arts to get in (ours qualified and had the option of going into vocal music, musical theater, creative writing or a sort of general try out all the arts program - so it is not terribly hard to get in for something). They do not have sports, only dance, yoga and some kind of martial arts class. We lived in Frnech Park. OCHSA was two blocks away. That was convenient.

OUr oldest children went to the school in Tustin for two years, then John Muir, then Villa. One of them went to the OCHSA Jr. High for a year. They were both testing in the 90+% level on national tests, so their education was very good. One is now 10th in her class at a very highly regarded public high school in Michigan. She can go to college pretty much wherever she wants (or wherever we can afford). So a decent education is avialable.

People in Santa Ana are very real and down to earth. SOme parts are pretty rough. Other parts are nice. I would suggest that you consider Floral Park, French Park or Park Santiago. Make school arrangements before you move though. If you just go to the neighborhood school, you could end up in a class where no one speaks english at all, not even the teacher. If your kids do not go to John Muir or the floral park school (or maybe the OCSHA elemntary), you will have to use private schools.

The Northern part of Tustin is a nice community with pretty good schools. Foothill is a good high school. Our kids went to a super competitive elementary charter school in Tustin there for a while (too competitive we moved them to John Muir). I cannot remember the name of it, but I will evnetually think of it. I had to camp out overnight on the sidewalk during registration to get them in.

If you have the money, Lemon Heights or anaheim hills area would be nice for you.

Lots of places in Orange fit your needs as well. We lived near the Old town circle for a time and it was agreat place to live. Again with money, Orange park Acres or Villa Park fit your desire. Most houses there were over $1 million though.

We loved Silverado Canyon and would have moved there from Santa Ana if we had stayed in California.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Designbot

We've lived in Fullerton before, and liked it all right, although we found it difficult to meet people, and we found Orange County in general to be an odd mix of wealthy, appearance-obsessed Republicans and inappropriately-aged wannabe punk rockers.

Yea, I know what you mean about the inappropriately-aged punk rockers.

It's amazing how degenerate lifestyles takes hold of so many people in California.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Designbot

We've lived in Fullerton before, and liked it all right, although we found it difficult to meet people, and we found Orange County in general to be an odd mix of wealthy, appearance-obsessed Republicans and inappropriately-aged wannabe punk rockers.

So how did this happen?


We went from this:


http://www.b26.com/marauderman/image/e-swinford.09.jpg


to this:


http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...g?t=1239068892






This:

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/student_o...pha/Kappa1.jpg


To this:

http://www.lagangs.us/bloodgangs/tre...es/treetop.jpg

[graciously]

idk think got bored

Originally Posted by Designbot

we found Orange County in general to be an odd mix of wealthy, appearance-obsessed Republicans and inappropriately-aged wannabe punk rockers.

You sure of this. I would think OC was more for people almost middle age or middle age and older or anyone who can afford such a place and not so much for younger or any person over 18 and before middle aged as mentioned with exception of santa ana and one or two cities. Partly cause of the price and the settings of many places in that area that seem to fit many people of older age groups. Would think not so much appearance obsessed cause many are old to not even care about such other than looking clean and wealthy and that really meaning nothing or having no affect except possibly the one or two cities as mentioned. Would of thought that with age of most people and professions that many living there aren't punk rockers or into that. All the other stuff might be typical of any suburb type of place.